Department of Nursing, 71675National Tainan Junior College of Nursing, Tainan, Taiwan.
Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
Inquiry. 2021 Jan-Dec;58:469580211055587. doi: 10.1177/00469580211055587.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, older people are threatened, and there may be different psychological responses toward COVID-19 between women and men. The present study explored the factors and gender differences related to the fear of COVID-19 among older women and men in Taiwan. Geriatric patients (n = 139; 42 men; mean age = 71.73 years) who visited outpatient departments were recruited. They self-reported demographic data and completed questions asking about (i) their fear of COVID-19, (ii) whether they paid attention to COVID-19 news, (iii) whether searched for COVID-19 news, (iv) whether they believed in COVID-19 news, and (v) their preventive COVID-19 behaviors. Both women and men reported a low fear of COVID-19, paid close attention to COVID-19 news, and practiced good preventive COVID-19 infection behaviors. The perceived chance of COVID-19 infection was a significant factor contributing to the fear of COVID-19 among both women and men. Preventive behaviors had a positive effect in lowering the fear of COVID-19. News about COVID-19 had a negative effect in lowering the fear of the disease among women but not men. As the performing of preventive COVID-19 infection behaviors was associated with a lower fear of COVID-19, healthcare providers should consider strategies for improving preventive behaviors among older people to help ease their worries and fears concerning COVID-19.
由于 COVID-19 大流行，老年人受到威胁，女性和男性对 COVID-19 的心理反应可能存在差异。本研究探讨了与台湾老年女性和男性对 COVID-19 的恐惧相关的因素和性别差异。招募了 139 名老年患者（42 名男性；平均年龄=71.73 岁），他们在门诊就诊。他们自行报告人口统计学数据，并回答了以下问题：（i）他们对 COVID-19 的恐惧，（ii）他们是否关注 COVID-19 新闻，（iii）是否搜索 COVID-19 新闻，（iv）是否相信 COVID-19 新闻，以及（v）他们预防 COVID-19 的行为。女性和男性都报告对 COVID-19 的恐惧程度较低，密切关注 COVID-19 新闻，并采取良好的预防 COVID-19 感染行为。感染 COVID-19 的可能性被认为是导致女性和男性对 COVID-19 恐惧的重要因素。预防行为对降低对 COVID-19 的恐惧有积极影响。关于 COVID-19 的新闻对降低女性对该疾病的恐惧有负面影响，但对男性没有影响。由于预防 COVID-19 感染行为与降低对 COVID-19 的恐惧有关，医疗保健提供者应考虑采取策略来改善老年人的预防行为，以帮助缓解他们对 COVID-19 的担忧和恐惧。
